Georgia Farm Bureau concerned over tobacco payment cuts

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• In his letter to OMB Director Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Duvall asked that the TTPP be removed from the list of programs facing cuts, noting that exposing them to sequestration cuts puts farmers and in some cases financial institutions at risk.

Saying that payments under the Tobacco Transition Payment Program (TTPP) should not be subject to sequestration cuts and that an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) plan to do so could erode confidence in government-backed financial programs, Georgia Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall has written to government officials expressing opposition to the cuts.

The OMB included the TTPP among federal programs to be cut under sequestration rules, a move that has drawn recent protests from tobacco interests because the funds are collected from tobacco companies rather than coming from tax dollars.

Many Georgia tobacco growers took the TTPP buyout plans, under which the final payments are to be issued in 2014.